It is known to create nonwoven metal fabrics by forming a nonwoven web of metal fibers, overlaying portions of the nonwoven metal fiber web to form a multilayer structure, and then needle-punching the multilayer structure to form a coherent metal fabric.
Unfortunately, the nonwoven metal fabrics made by this process tend not to be suitable for many applications because they lack tensile strength. In particular, when used in abrasive applications, such fabrics tend to ball up, tear and fray.
Accordingly, there is a need for a nonwoven metal fabric having improved strength characteristics